Sandy's Castle
by Thunder.Blade132
Summary: How did Jack know about dolphins? He learned about them after he become immortal... right? Wrong. He saw them at the same place he met one of the Guardians. In the middle of the woods. (Mortal Jack) First in my "First Introductions" series.


A/N: First ever Fanfiction. This is the meeting of the Sandman and Jack before Jack was reborn as a winter spirit. Reviews would be awesome.

Twelve year old Jackson Overland woke up to complete silence. It had never been so quiet. Throughout the day, the village was wide awake, bustling with the activity of it's occupants. Children running around, adults working or buying goods. Even in the forest, the animals and critters would call out to each other, deer running through the trees, small birds singing out their joy of a beautiful spring day. As the sun went down, the villagers and small creatures settled down to sleep. The nocturnal beasts came out to hunt; prowling through the woods, claiming any kills they happen to find.

Getting out of bed, Jack looked out his window to see night at its darkest, just before dawn. The best time of night. All night hunters lay down to rest, as the rest of the world still slept. It was a couple hours before dawn, and Jack wanted to fall asleep again, but found that he couldn't. He walked to the door, and peeked out, listening to hear if anyone else was awake. It was a silly thing to do, he knew it was really early, but he did it anyways. After a minute he went to check on his sister, he loved to see her sleeping peacefully. She would sometimes have nightmares and Jack would make room for her in his bed. Although Jack appreciated his sleep as much as any exhausted twelve year old, he hated to see his sister so upset. He would tell her, every night, that she was safe and he would protect her.

Being careful to avoid the creaky floor boards, he silently made his way to the next room. With a gentle push on the door, Jack looked in on the little girl, sleeping soundly in her bed. He gave a little smile and was about to head back to his own room, when something caught his eye. A sliver of golden sand flew out the window of her bedroom. Jack discovered small traces of sand near her head. Curious, he walked to the window. With a little effort, he opened it and stuck his head out. He saw a little stream of the sand floating away.

Feeling adventurous, he quickly climbed out the window to land on the grass. After a few hesitant steps, he looked back, and thought of his father, warning him of the dangers of going outside after dark. He knew his dad wanted him to be safe and he should never go out after dark without an adult, but he pushed that aside. He _really _wanted to know what that sand was. He glanced around, and saw what looked like a Shepard's hooked staff. Jack thought it looked cool, so he reached out to pick it up. He ran bare foot through the forest, flying to catch up with the golden streak.

He didn't know how long he ran, but the further he got, the more excited he felt. He couldn't help but smile as he saw the sand weave through the trees, as though daring him to try and catch it. Jack noticed other small streams that all joined together. Soon, he was surround by a river of glowing substance. It leapt and flowed around him, letting off a golden glow as it moved. "This must be a dream." He whispered to himself softly, not wanting to disturb the silent music of the magic that surrounded him. The sand, though it gave off no audible sound, seemed to have a voice of its own, ringing out with an innocent sort of joy as it swirled around him. Each stream that joined with the main flow slowed the movement , and Jack realized he must be getting close to where it seemed to be going. Gripping his staff tightly, he through the trees and came to a little clearing. He couldn't suppress a small gasp at what he saw.

All the rivers of golden sand joined together in the clearing. They met up in the middle, where a cloud, made entirely out of the beautiful sand, floated. On the cloud was a small man, that seemed to blend in with the sand that surrounded him. With the moonlight shining down on the clearing, the whole place seemed to glow and sparkle. Larger particles of sand floated around, giving light to the whole clearing.

Jack looked around in wonder, and saw that most of the rivers had fun shapes and animals in them. He reached out to touch one, and let out a small cry of joy as an eagle burst from the sand. It flew around him, and landed on his shoulder, rubbing against his neck. He reached up to pet it, and was surprised that he could feel its soft, beautiful feathers but at the same time, the sandy texture it was made out of. It flew off of him, and joined the rest of the sand in the middle.

Jack took a hesitant step forward, trying not to get the attention of the man, but his back was to the young boy, so Jack decided to get as close as he could. A few steps from him, and Jack could have sworn the guy was sleeping... while standing... He walked around to the front of him, and had his guess confirmed. _How can this guy sleep, when all this cool sand is flowing to him...? What's it for, anyways..._ Jack had a guess, but couldn't know for sure, unless he asked the man. Not wanting to wake up a strange magic-like man in the middle of the night while he was deep in the forest and away from any help, Jack decided to touch the man's sand cloud instead. He felt the same sensation of touching two completely different textures at the same time. The soft, cushiony feeling of the cloud, along with the grainy, glowy feeling coming from the sand. Grabbing some with both hands, he found that it was pretty solid, completely different from how it looked. Jack grinned as he came up with a brilliant idea.

Putting the wooden staff down, he started to create many small shapes out of the strange sand, but before long, he decided _Why should I make it so small, when I have all this sand? I could make it on a grand scale easily. _His eyes seemed to glow with a magic of their own, as the sand continued to return the cloud, giving him more material to work with._ Wonder if the man will mind that I'm using his sand..._

Sandy woke with a start. He hadn't meant to fall asleep, but when he had reached a clearing in such a beautiful forest, he couldn't help it as the dream sand flowed around him. Often times, when he slept, he didn't remember his own dreams, mainly because he had the dreams of the children come to him all at once. Sandy didn't mind though, he loved seeing what the children dreamed of each night. They each had different dreams, showing off their individuality. To have them all come together at the end of the night, it was a good dream that Sandy got each and every morning. This dream, though, Sandy remembered bits and pieces. It had a strange boy, who was playing with his sand... as sand. It didn't show his favorite animal, or his dreams of toys and fun. The boy just laughed as the sand flowed around him. The Sandman smiled at his dream. To see someone entertained by something simple, and still have so much fun, made Sandy realize how amazing the children of the world are.

Sandy turned and noticed that most of his sand had returned to him, but as he looked around, he found that the sand was still and unmoving. It maybe shimmered a bit, but it was not flying around him like it normally would. He looked up into the moon that was shining above him, and saw that his sand was formed into walls of some sort. Confused at what would make the sand like that, he turned and saw a doorway that led to the outside. Stepping off his cloud, he walked outside and saw a sight he was not prepared to see.

His beautiful sand, with its dream filled glow, had formed around him, making a wonderful castle. It had four spires reaching into the sky. It had no roof, but that allowed the moon's light to shine on both the inside, and out. Each spire had small indents in them, big enough for foot holds, to get on top of each tower. The walls had six windows on each, three across, and two down the side. Sandy continued to look at it, and wonder why in the world it did this. It had never done such a thing before...

"You kinda need to make it more smooth, like this..." A young voice said, although it was whispered, the sound seemed to bounce off the sand and float towards Sandy's ears.

Sandy walked around the palace, looking at the fine craftsmanship of it. Entranced by the building, Sandy almost tripped over a discarded staff. He paused for a moment, and picked up the staff. He looked around, trying to find it's owner. He glanced up and was surprised to see a boy on one of the spires, his foot placed in one of the indents for support. He was leaning over and doing a small design on the top of the tower, while a small river of sand seemed to watch him. Sandy looked on in interest. When he was awake, the sand would follow his ideas and instantly form what he wanted, but he had no idea what his sand did when he was sleeping. As he watched the boy work on the castle, he could see that the sand was influenced by the boy's idea and dream of the sand palace, and was creating it with his thoughts flowing through it.

"There, like that. Can you do that for the other towers?" The boy asked, speaking directly to the sand. The small stream of sand, though, realized that Sandy was up, and was now influenced by his powers, instead of the child's. The boy seemed to realize something changed, because he turned to look behind him. Upon seeing Sandman watching him, he let out a gasp of surprise and quickly tried to get up. His foot, getting caught in the foot hold of the tower, caused him to fall off at an awkward angle. Unable to right him, the boy closed his eyes and waited for impact against the hard ground.

Sandy had other plans though. Bringing his hands up, he formed a large net that caught him as he fell. Bringing him closer to the ground, the net dissolved, letting the boy only drop a few inches till his bare feet hit the solid dirt. He looked a little shaken from the fall, but turned to grin at Sandy. "That was so cool!" His voice, still quiet, held excitement in it. "What else can you make? Can you make anything with the sand? Do you have to think about each object before you make it, or does the sand just make stuff before you really think about the specifics?" The boy fired off questions faster than Sandy could try to stop him. He than paused and looked at Sandy with a guilty expression. "Hope you don't mind your new castle..." he said with a small laugh.

Sandy smiled and shook his head. He didn't mind at all. It was a beautiful creation, and he was glad he could see it. He formed some shapes above his head, introducing himself.

"Your... a sandman?" The child said. "Well, yeah, I got that, when I noticed you were made of sand... At first I thought it just surrounded you, but now as I get a better look at you, I can tell that your actually made of it."

Sandy shook his head and tried again.

"Your... _the _Sandman? Like, it's your name?" He asked.

Sandy gave a thumbs up, before pointing to him with a question mark above his head.

"Oh, My name is Jack." He held out his hand to shake with Sandy. "Can I call you Sandy? Sandman is just too self-explanatory. Sandy sounds more fun and relaxed." He gave another grin to Sandy. "I was watching your sand rivers. They are really cool."

The guardian gave a nod and smile in thanks, than formed a series of sand shapes above his head, asking Jack some questions.

The boy gladly replied and they talked about many different subjects. After awhile, Sandy looked towards the east, where the sun would soon be rising. He needed to start heading home. He didn't want to destroy Jack's castle, but his sand would be needed for the next night. He thought for a moment, than came up with an idea, unconsciously creating a light bulb above his head. Gathering a bit of his sand, he made a miniature version of one of the towers that Jack had built. He began to add some details that Jack didn't have time to put in his real one. When it was finished Sandy placed it in Jack's hands.

When the young boy stared down at it, his eyes lit up. "Thank you" He whispered.

At that, Sandy turned to go, his sand following close behind him. It began flying away, taking its golden glow with it. Jack looked up as the little man left. Fear gripped at him as a sudden chill came. It had become cold quite quickly. Not the nice spring cool air, or even a winter's chilly breeze. The cold paralyzed him as he watched the retreating figure of the guardian. He didn't want him to leave. Jack turned and looked behind him, feeling like he was being watched by someone a lot less pleasant than Sandy. Yellow eyes stared out at him, and his mind jumped to all the different predatory beasts that hunted at night. Especially wolves... Even though it was nearing dawn, they would still be out if there was something to eat... At the sound of a twig breaking, Jack almost dropped his gift. "Sandy, WAIT" He called out, his voice cracking a bit as he yelled. He took a few hasty steps towards the guardian.

Sandy hurriedly looked back and saw Jack standing there, shivering in the growing darkness, fear seeming to surround him. Looking just past the boy, Sandy noticed another figure that had been creeping forwards, but at the sight of the other guardian staring back, it disappeared.

"I.. I'm not sure how to get home from here..." Jack mumbled to the ground. Now that Sandy wasn't leaving, the horrible fear seemed to pass. He felt silly for his sudden cry for help, but he relaxed a bit as Sandy floated closer again to him.

Sandy looked at Jack gently, and held out his hand. Once Jack took it, he created another tendril of sand, this one flowing towards the town. Going off of what Jack had said about them being rivers of golden sand, Sandy created two of the most playful happy water creatures he could think of, to help drive that fear away even more.

Dolphins.

At the sight of them, Jack's eyes grew wide. Never before had he seen such creatures. They looked at him and 'splashed' some sand at him. He laughed and ran over to them, petting them and getting a better look at the playful animals. Sandy jumped up on one, and signaled for Jack to do the same. His smile got about three times bigger as he mounted his new friend. Both of the creatures set off at once, bouncing above the sand, and giving Jack the time of his life. Sandy raised the 'sea level' of his sand, so that the two of them could go diving under the sandy water, as well as jumping above. With each jump, Jack let out a 'whoop!' and as they went under the sand, his face would fill with wonder at what lay underneath.

Jack loved the feeling of riding on the waves of sand. He looked down, and saw that they were several feet up. Jack wasn't scared though, he loved heights, and flying through the air like this only made it better. He gripped his dolphin tighter, wanting to race the Sand Spirit beside him. His mount seemed to feel his excitement and soon raced forwards, getting a pretty good head start as the competition began.

Sandy soon followed and let out a silent laugh as he watched the boy holding on with only joy on his face. The guardian was glad that he could do this for the boy. Not just guiding him home, but helping him to see the wonder around them, and the fun that could come from it. To fill his mind with hopes and dreams, and making special memories. Sandy could feel Jack's belief. It's sure and steady pulse beat with his heart. To see a child so happy to be alive, and willing to make it better for others... Jack was a special boy.

Sandy decided to take the lead. He led them through the woods a bit, making their trip longer then it should have been, but Jack was all to happy to be a little late.

As they neared Jack's home, Sandy slowed down, but to his shock, Jack was still going at top speed. He tried to signal to Jack to slow down, but the boy was looking straight ahead. Sandy could have made his sand creation stop, but than decided to trust the boy. Jack looked back and saw Sandy slowing down. "Mind if we go a bit further?" He yelled back, his voice being carried by the wind. Sandy could only nod and hope the boy know what he was doing. Speeding up, he went right next to Jack, and soon saw what he in mind.

There was a small lake, perfectly clear and still. The perfect target for the soaring got ready to jump in, getting in a position so it would just be a quick slip. When they were almost above it, Jack fell off, yelling with joy as his momentum carried him to the center of the lake. His cry was cut off when he hit the water. Sandy waited for him to resurface, and when he did, they gave each other a final farewell wave. As Jack trekked back home he thought of what had happened in the last few hours. He decided not to tell anyone. Not that anyone would believe him... Well, his little sister might, but Jack wanted to keep this memory to himself. It would be his little secret. Smiling, Jack reached into his pocket to bring out the gift. His eyes grew wide as he felt inside his wet pockets.

Nothing.

Stopping dead in his tracks he searched again, and ran back to the lake, hoping it had fallen before it had dissolved in the water. As dawn got ever closer, Jack had to head home before his parents noticed he was gone. When he trudged through the door to his home, he heard that his parents were just waking up. He quickly slipped into his room, and stayed quite so they wouldn't know he was out. He felt the threat of tears come. He looked at his empty hands and wished he hadn't done that last stunt. Sandy wanted to stop right at his house, but no. Jack had to go to the lake and get soaking wet! His beautiful gift, dissolving in the lake water... its magic leaving Jack. He internally yelled at himself for losing the gift. He paused and frowned. He felt like something else was missing... maybe he forgot something... it felt kind of important... He let his mind drift through the mornings events again. How he a sneaked out of the house, finding that cool Shepard hook staff thing...

That he had left in the woods!

He groaned aloud and smacked his head against a wall, which he immediately regretted as he rubbed it head in pain. "Oww" Jack mumbled, this time the tears did come, from both the pain in his head, and at the loss of the Sandman's gift.

Jack, wiping his tears away, headed out to search for the missing staff. It wasn't his, so it was most likely his fathers... and Jack didn't think he'd be too happy to find it gone. He tried not to get too upset at his sister when she came running to their mom talking about her dream the night before. When he got outside, he headed to where he had first found the staff. He hoped he had dropped the staff near his home, and not in the far way clearing.

The sun was just reaching over the tops of the trees. When its light shined down on Jack, he saw something sparkle near the edge of the woods. Curious and excited, he walked towards the familiar golden shine. Leaning against a tree was a hooked staff, and at the base of it was a small, beautifully crafted castle tower, made completely out of sand. Hardly daring to believe it, Jack bent down to pick the gift up. Holding it, he could feel the magic flowing through it. As he looked deeper at it, he saw that it shined with a light that was in no ways connected with the rising sun. Jack smiled at the wonderful gift in his hands, happy that he could treasure it till the day he died... maybe even after that.

**Around 305 years later.**

It was just another nightly routine. No Nightmares no troubles. Everything was going well, and Sandman let out a smile as he watched the tendrils of sand weave in and out of Jack Frost's fingertips. He always enjoyed watching the boy play with his creations, and Jack seemed to never get tired of it.

As the magical particles came in contact with the winter spirit, Sandy's eyes grew wide as it formed three small creatures that joyfully played around him.

They were dolphins.

The Dream Spirit unconsciously floated closer, wondering if the boy remembered their first encounter. Deciding to put it to the test, Sandy formed a larger dolphin and had it fly down right next to Jack.

Jack let out a small gasp as the creature nudged him. At seeing the larger version, he let out a laugh and looked at Sandy, who had now created one of his own. Jack quickly mounted his dolphin and smiled at Sandy, his eyes giving out an unspoken challenge.

Both Guardians headed out, racing across the town.

"You know, Sandy" Jack called out, having to almost yell to have his voice be heard over the rushing winds. "This is much funner the second time 'round." He gave a grin to his companion who was now looking at him excitedly. At seeing Sandy's hope-filled face, Jack brought something out of his hoodie pocket. It's golden shine glittered along with the rest of Sandy's sand.

"I'm glad you thought I was such an artist back then." Jack said, admiring the combined work of Jackson Overland Frost and The Sand Man. The castle tower stood tall with golden orbs circling above it. There were windows that now seemed like glass, giving off small reflections of what got caught in them. The entrance way at the bottom had beautiful designs all over the doubles doors, that lead inside. Looking in, one could tell it was hollow. Nothing had diminished over the years, in fact, Sandy noticed it now had a blueish sparkle to it as well. That only made him smile more. Seems like Jack's frosty powers couldn't be kept from the magical sand spire. They are what probably made the windows so reflective.

Jack smirked and returned the precious gift to his pocket. "Wanna know why it's better this time round?" He asked

Sandy could only shrug and give a nod.

"I now know how fast these things can really go!" Jack then shot off like a bullet, leaving Sandy in his dust. Sandman just let out a silent laugh as he watched Jack lead towards the North Pole. Sandy would meet up with him later to collect the sand, but for right now... he'd let the boy have his fun.

A/N And there ya go. How was it? Enjoyed it? Great! This is the first of my "First Introductions" series... each of the guardians will see Jack before he is a spirit.


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